Free Web NovelChapter 44: Chapter 38: Reward
"Next. Here, take this." Shire pulled out a sheepskin and handed it to his subordinate.
The goblin subordinate took the sheepskin and rubbed it back and forth against his face, letting out a goofy "Heh heh" chuckle.
But he immediately remembered his face was still dirty and nervously unfolded the sheepskin. When he saw a few black smudges on it, his face fell, and he looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"Alright, don’t be sad. If it gets dirty, you can just wash it clean," Shire comforted him.
"Chief, is this mine from now on?" the goblin asked, his big eyes wide with longing.
"Yes, it’s yours. No one can take it away, not even me," Shire nodded.
"Mine, mine," the goblin murmured, clutching the sheepskin and rubbing it against his face again. His expression was like that of an old man pressing his face against the bottom of a long-awaited baby son, his very breathing growing cautious. But Shire knew it was just an ordinary sheepskin.
"Alright, go rub it over there. Next." He pointed a finger, sending the subordinate away. Another goblin immediately came up from behind. Meanwhile, the first goblin joined a group of his companions, all of whom were ecstatically rubbing their faces with sheepskins as if they were high on mushrooms.
After the successful hunt for the Fearsome Claw Bear, Shire had kept his promise and distributed a sheepskin to everyone. Winter was coming, and he had to prepare enough warm materials for his subordinates so they wouldn’t have to huddle together in a group.
At the same time, Shire also began to instill the concept of private property into his subordinates’ minds. The goblin Race had no concept of private ownership; the only things they could probably call their own were the tattered shorts on their bodies. After every hunt or gathering, everything was handed over to the chief, who would never distribute any items to his subordinates. But Shire was preparing to unify the goblins in the forest, and establishing private ownership was a necessary step.
’This winter won’t be so hard,’ Shire thought as he handed out another sheepskin, shooing the subordinate away to join the face-rubbing party. He still needed to get a lot more hides so his subordinates could make warm clothes and bedding.
"Longer! I’m berry, berry tall," Red Eyes argued with Buck Teeth off to the side. He wanted the other goblin to use longer logs for his bed frame.
While Buck Teeth had been taking care of the Slimes over the past two days, Shire had taken the opportunity to teach him the structure of a bed. Using the tools Little John had brought, he had started a trial run and successfully built the first bed in just over half a day.
Shire lay down to test it and found it mediocre at best. The round logs were of uneven thickness, digging uncomfortably into his back. The wood was also covered in knots and had branches that hadn’t been properly cleaned off. In his past life, Shire would never have chosen to sleep on such a bed—it would have been sheer torture.
Now, however, it had become a rare treasure. Red Eyes had performed very well during the recent hunt, so Shire planned to make an example of him—and a guinea pig—to let Buck Teeth get more practice.
Once Buck Teeth was more skilled and Little John brought more tools, Shire planned to provide every subordinate with a bed and a sheepskin. Then they would no longer have to sleep on the ground.
"Stop giving bad instructions." He walked up and kicked Red Eyes aside. The impetuous subordinate was telling Buck Teeth to find logs nearly three meters long for the bed frame. A bed made like that would be big enough for a Bear Goblin to sleep on, and it definitely wouldn’t be sturdy.
"Just make it this long. That’ll be enough for him." Shire marked a spot on a log for Buck Teeth, then went back to handing out sheepskins.
The kicked-aside Red Eyes trotted right back over to Buck Teeth, drooling as he watched him cut the wood and muttering, "Heh heh, mine, mine." Shire watched him and shook his head. ’Good thing the idiot didn’t say, "Heh heh, pretty ladies,"’ he thought.
BANG! BANG! BANG! A series of loud knocks rang out. Bai Mao was calling everyone for dinner. But today, for the first time ever, the goblins didn’t rush to line up.
Bai Mao ladled out a bowl of dried meat mush and presented it to Shire. "Chief, time to eat."
Shire handed out the last sheepskin and glanced at the wooden bowl. To be honest, Bai Mao’s cooking skills were gradually improving. You didn’t see as many half-eaten rats, burst-open frogs, or multicolored bird eggs in the pot anymore.
But the taste was still hard to describe. Shire still couldn’t stomach this bizarre concoction that could make a person’s face change color and their eyes roll back in their head after a single bite.
"You guys go ahead and eat. Go on," Shire said with a smile. freёwebnovel.com
"Chief, eat," Bai Mao said, stubbornly pushing the bowl forward again.
"Mine isn’t ready yet," Shire said, then fled toward his own small pot as if escaping.
He glanced at the somewhat dejected Bai Mao and could only offer an apologetic smile.
BANG! BANG! BANG! This time, Bai Mao banged even louder. All the goblins clutched their sheepskins as they went to get their bowls, but they found they couldn’t hold their wooden bowls steady while holding the skins. Unwilling to put their precious skins down, some smartass finally rolled his up, stuffed it down the back of his pants, and then waddled over with his short legs splayed to get his food. And so, a troop of two-legged crabs formed a line in front of the large pot.
Red Eyes was the first to get his food. He carried his bowl over to the Fearsome Claw Bear’s skull, sat on the ground, and began to SLURP SLURP down his mush. The goblins behind him followed suit, taking their wooden bowls and eating in front of the bear’s skull.
Shire didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had no idea what his subordinates were thinking. But he figured it might be the goblins’ way of expressing confidence. Eating in front of a powerful opponent’s remains could be a sign of contempt. Or maybe they were just using the Fearsome Claw Bear as an appetizer to whet their appetites.
Looking at the Fearsome Claw Bear’s skull, he let out a long breath. The smoky face that had appeared at the end had given him a bad feeling. That entity’s abilities were not weak. However, Shire figured the forest was vast; it wouldn’t be able to find him right away. This gave the goblins time to develop, and he needed to increase his own strength as quickly as possible.
He called up his status panel.
[Available Abilities: Blessing of the Evil God, Lustful, Basic Endurance x2, Eye of Confusion]
He’d finally gotten the Eye of Confusion. Shire hadn’t decided who to grant this Ability to yet. Thanks to their recent hunting, however, most of his subordinates now had Basic Endurance. Red Eyes and Broken Tooth were among the few who had also been granted Basic Power.
Interestingly, despite killing so many Slimes before, he hadn’t obtained a single Ability. Shire figured that perhaps you couldn’t extract Abilities from monsters if their strength was too low.
’Next time I see Little John, I need to give him the Fearsome Claw Bear’s long claws and have him find someone to make them into weapons.’ Shire glanced back at the storage cave. An Intermediate Beast Core was lying there, tossed casually to the side.
If an Adventurer were to pass by right now, they would surely cry out at the criminal waste. They would curse the goblins for their ignorance while desperately attacking to snatch the Beast Core. But there was nothing to be done. A treasure that humans would kill for was completely useless to goblins. Besides, Shire figured that the deeper they went into the forest, the more Magical Beasts they would encounter. Winter was also the peak season for Magical Beast appearances. If he trained his team well, the tribe would have a huge supply of Beast Cores in the future.
’What a headache.’ Shire scratched his bald head. Things that others would fight to the death for were scattered around his place like common rocks. To trade for supplies, he would have to smuggle the Beast Cores out.
"I wonder if the future Hero would be willing to become a smuggler," he said mischievously.
